Seeking Help

Where does the time go? Billable time. As a consultant, your practice may be doing reasonably well; you're charging $100-150 an hour. As an independent consultant, you're probably also doing everything from grinding the coffee to editing the umpteenth draft of your brochure.

To understand where you spend your time, list and categorize all your activities into clerical, professional and other suitable groups. Calculate how many hours you're spending on each-daily, weekly, monthly, annually. Some you enjoy, some you're really good at, some are a pain in the neck The point is, no one is paying you to do them. The more time you spend on client work, the more you bill. The more you bill, the more money you have available to pay someone else to take care of the stuff you'd rather not do or should not be doing yourself.

The time you spend on unbillable tasks makes you a very expensive clerical worker. Keeping the cash to yourself sounds good, until you really think about it. You wouldn't pay a secretary $150 an hour, but that's precisely what you're paying yourself. Your time is valuable and should be spent earning money or on activities that grow your business like marketing or product development. The rest is just overhead-costly overhead. Can you afford not to hire someone?

And, it's not just the on-going clerical and administrative stuff you can be helped with. Many of our own clients come only after having spent hundreds of hours trying to create their own marketing materials.

Entrepreneurs strongly resist giving up any responsibility. You know the refrain, "If it's going to be done right, I've got to do it myself." They struggle endlessly with business plans, and similar activities unrelated to their field of expertise.

You may indeed ask, who better? The answer is, your professional colleagues. They may charge the same hourly fee, but the job is done in much less time and they bring objectivity and fresh ideas.

This is not only less expensive in the long run, but these things will also be done better. The repercussions of doing a inadequate job on your business plan, marketing materials, accounting, etc. can be severe.

Certainly, keep an eye on things; but don't spend more time than you must. Leave the grunt work to others. Hiring clerical and professional help is practical, and necessary-if you want to squeeze the most out of your practice.

Keith Thirgood, Creative Director, Editor Thrive-on-Line http://www.capstonecomm.com Capstone Communications Group Helping businesses get more business through innovative marketing Markham, Ontario, Canada 905-472-2330 Subscribe to Thrive-on-line http://list.capstonecomm.com/ma il.cgi?f=list&l=thrive_on_line

---

Better Links Directory

Compensation and Six Sigma Black Belts

One of the more ambiguous elements of a Six Sigma... Read More

Sexual Harassment Policy Guidelines Part I

Sexual Harassment Policy Guidelines ? Part IPermission is hereby granted... Read More

Managing Meetings

Plan/prepare - lack of purpose causes aimless meetings. Know why... Read More

Attract and Retain Positively Great Employees - An Action Plan for Employee Training

Everyday a business owner, CEO, or manager somewhere is complaining... Read More

Is Your Business Ethical?

Ethics - in a profession or trade - is that... Read More

Manage Your Business from the Rockies, not the Prairies

The day job as a manager is all about managing... Read More

Inventory Management 101

Inventory management may seem complicated to some, but if one... Read More

Passion for Profits

Business owners and managers are busier than ever. As their... Read More

Character: Is It Necessary In Leadership? (Part One)

We know character when we see it, but what exactly... Read More

Hire Winners: Avoid These 10 Interview No-No?s

Have you ever hired someone who did not live up... Read More

Cultural Awareness - an HR Perspective

The use of cultural awareness training has increased rapidly in... Read More

The Devil We Know

"I'm in an abusive relationship," sighed Andrew. "My bookkeeper annoys... Read More

Unveiling the Value of Your Expertise

All of us have knowledge, expertise, and experience that others... Read More

How to Reduce Temporary Employee Turnover

The use of temporary services to stock a farm of... Read More

Getting to Consensus

The need to get people in an organization to pull... Read More

Its a Training Issue!

There's a common phrase used by Organizational Development and Human... Read More

Problem-Solving Success Tip: Define the Problem First

Define the Problem First. It seems obvious, but how many... Read More

25 Super-Practical Steps to Build Your Business!

For the past several weeks, we have focused on some... Read More

The High, High Price of Distrust

A paper manufacturer with over 300 employees once announced that... Read More

Innovation Management ? Rigorous data analysis

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

The Three-Dimensional Communication System

Human communication is always three-dimensional. No spoken or written message... Read More

Online Business Peace of Mind

Is your online business disaster-proof? Online businesses face a unique... Read More

How to use NLP for Business?

What is Neuro-Linguistic Programming?Neuro-Linguistic programme is nothing but the study... Read More

4 Simple Steps to Successful Delegation

Last month, my featured article was about creating a "Stop... Read More

3 Keys to Being a Fearless Executive

In my work with business executives, I have come to... Read More